Jaden Smith only owns one pair of shoes, three pairs of pants, and five shirts. Dad Will Smith says his son refuses to be a “slave to money.”
“He has refused to be a slave to money,” Will Smith says in March’s Esquire magazine of his son’s thriftiness. “I so respect that. The younger generation is less of an ownership generation, anyway.”
Will grew up significantly less fortunate than Jaden Smith. He eventually, of course, starred in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, which launched a career that has lasted more than two decades.
Jaden Smith is now following in his father’s footsteps as an actor.
Guess how many pairs of shoes Jaden Smith owns http://t.co/BVd785cYTr pic.twitter.com/bw46yPdxmF
— People magazine (@peoplemag) February 13, 2015
“It’s such an interesting thing to watch, because I came from a middle-class background, but, you know, our lights and gas would be cut off from not paying the bill,” Will Smith says. “I grew up in a house where you would need the kerosene heaters in the winter in case the bills didn’t get paid.”
“And he’s from the complete other end of the spectrum. And it’s so interesting to me that from growing up in that space, he could see the need for things in a way that he’s rejecting,” he says of Jaden. “He’s like, ‘I’m not gonna let myself need things in that way.'”
The Focus star is hoping his son will go shopping for one thing soon, however, even though he refuses to be a slave to money.
“I would like him to get another pair of shoes,” he says.
Jaden Smith must be an anomaly in the world of Hollywood teens. When you consider his attitude about money as compared to that of some of his friends, including Kylie Jenner and her sister Kendall, it is extremely refreshing.
Clearly Will and Jada Pinkett Smith have instilled some impressive values in their son.